VLADIMIR PUTIN WILL ‘PAY A PRICE’ FOR MEDDLING: JOE BIDEN

Russia called its US ambassador back to Moscow for consultations on Wednesday after Joe Biden described Vladimir Putin as a "killer" who would "pay a price" for election meddling, prompting the first major diplomatic crisis for the new American president.

In an interview with ABC News, Biden was asked about a US intelligence report that the Russian leader tried to harm his candidacy in the November 2020 election and promote that of Donald Trump.

"He will pay a price," the 78-year-old Biden said.

Asked if he thought Putin, who has been accused of ordering the poisoning of opposition leader Alexei Navalny and other rivals, is a "killer," Biden said: "I do."

The comments were aired as the US Commerce Department announced it was toughening export restrictions imposed on Russia as punishment for Navalny's poisoning.

Russia responded by summoning its envoy home, but stressed that it wanted to prevent an "irreversible deterioration" in relations.

"The Russian ambassador in Washington, Anatoly Antonov, has been invited to come to Moscow for consultations conducted with the aim of analyzing what should be done and where to go in the context of ties with the United States," the Russian foreign ministry said.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told RIA Novosti that "responsibility for further deterioration of Russian-American ties fully rests with the United States."

JOHN MAGUFULI: TANZANIA'S PRESIDENT DIES AGED 61 AFTER COVID RUMOURS

Tanzania's President John Magufuli has died aged 61, the country's vice-president has announced.

He died on Wednesday from heart complications at a hospital in Dar es Salaam, Samia Suluhu Hassan said in an address on state television.

Magufuli had not been seen in public for more than two weeks, and rumours have been circulating about his health.

Opposition politicians said last week that he had contracted Covid-19, but this has not been confirmed.

Magufuli was one of Africa's most prominent coronavirus sceptics, and called for prayers and herbal-infused steam therapy to counter the virus.

"It is with deep regret that I inform you that today... we lost our brave leader, the president of the Republic of Tanzania, John Pombe Magufuli," Vice-President Hassan said in the announcement.

She said there would be 14 days of national mourning and flags would fly at half mast.

According to Tanzania's constitution, Ms Hassan will be sworn in as the new president and should serve the remainder of Magufuli's five-year team which he began last year.

COVID MAY BECOME 'SEASONAL' IF IT PERSISTS FOR MANY YEARS: UN

Covid-19 appears likely to develop into a seasonal disease, the United Nations said Thursday, cautioning though against relaxing pandemic-related measures simply based on meteorological factors.

More than a year after the novel coronavirus first surfaced in China, a number of mysteries still surround the spread of the disease that has killed nearly 2.7 million people worldwide.

In its first report, an expert team tasked with trying to shed light on one of those mysteries by examining potential meteorological and air quality influences on the spread of Covid-19, found some indications the disease would develop into a seasonal menace.The 16-member team set up by the UN' World Meteorological Organization pointed out that respiratory viral infections are often seasonal, "in particular the autumn-winter peak for influenza and cold-causing coronaviruses in temperate climates."

"This has fuelled expectations that, if it persists for many years, Covid-19 will prove to be a strongly seasonal disease," it said in a statement.

EU CHIEF THREATENS UK WITH VACCINE EXPORT CURBS

The EU on Wednesday threatened to invoke emergency powers to block European exports of Covid-19 vaccines to ensure "reciprocity" with other suppliers, urging Britain to send Europe more jabs.

EU chief Ursula von der Leyen gave her warning as Brussels unveiled its plan for a vaccine travel certificate, part of its effort to free up travel despite an emerging third wave of the pandemic. "All options are on the table," the former German defence minister said, warning that the vaccine situation would be addressed among EU leaders at talks next week.

"We are in the crisis of the century, and I'm not ruling out any anything for now, because we have to make sure that Europeans are vaccinated as soon as possible," she said and briefly alluded to emergency powers last used during the OPEC oil shock of the 1970s.

Europe's vaccination campaign has struggled to get off the ground due to delayed deliveries, as well as a bitter row with pharma giant AstraZeneca and fears over the safety of its vaccine. The EU has already set up special oversight of vaccine exports in which manufacturers contracted to supply Europe must declare if they intend to export doses outside the bloc.

Most of the EU's worry is over Britain, home of the AstraZeneca vaccine, where the inoculation campaign has progressed at a much faster pace than in the EU. Brussels has accused London of operating a de facto export ban to achieve its vaccine success, a claim furiously denied by Prime Minister Boris Johnson's government.

But von der Leyen on Wednesday said the EU was "still waiting" for its AstraZeneca orders to come out of "two sites in the UK", despite the fact that 10 million doses from other manufacturers had entered Britain from the EU. "This is an invitation to show us that there are also doses from the UK coming to the European Union, so that we have reciprocity," she said.

In its response, Britain said Brussels had previously pledged to allow drugmakers to deliver on their contracts. "We expect the EU to continue to stand by its commitment," a UK spokesperson added.

PROTESTERS IN MYANMAR FIGHT BACK AMID VIOLENT CRACKDOWN

Protesters in Myanmar fired slingshots and threw Molotov cocktails toward lines of security forces after apparently coming under fire in a rare incidence of anti-coup demonstrators fighting back against a relentlessly violent crackdown.

The growing resistance comes after one organisation said that more than 200 people have been killed since the February 1 takeover.

At least two people were shot dead during protests on Wednesday in Kalay in northwestern Myanmar, according to press and social media posts that included photos of the victims.

Smoke and fires were seen in Kalay and Yangon on March 17 night, reportedly from the authorities burning down barricades protesters had set up during the day.

Protests against the coup that ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi have shown remarkable staying power and largely remained peaceful, despite curbs on internet access, the imposition of martial law in some places, and an extraordinarily violent response by police.

Demonstrators have come up with innovative ways to carry on in the face of the violence, including lining up placards as stand-ins for themselves or coconuts painted with the words “Spring Revolution.” But on Wednesday, after security forces apparently shot at them in the country’s largest city of Yangon, demonstrators initially fled — but then crept back to hunker down behind sandbag barricades. Some hurled firebombs, while others took aim with slingshots — though the forces were too far away to be hit.

Pope Francis appealed on Wednesday for an end to bloodshed in Myanmar, saying: “Even I kneel on the streets and say stop violence.”

AS CRITICISM GROWS, BIDEN TELLS MIGRANTS NOT TO COME TO U.S.

President Joe Biden urged migrants not to come to the United States on Tuesday, as criticism mounted over a surge in people arriving at the southern border with Mexico, including thousands of unaccompanied children.

“Yes I can say quite clearly don’t come over ... Don’t leave your town or city or community,” he said in an interview with ABC News, addressing the migrants.

Speaking hours after his head of homeland security defended the administration’s immigration policies, Mr. Biden also shrugged off claims that his dismantling of former President Donald Trump’s tough stance had encouraged the surge, pointing out that there had been similar surges in 2019 and 2020.

“The idea that Joe Biden said ‘come’ - I heard the other day that they’re coming because I’m a nice guy... Here’s the deal, they’re not,” he said.

On January 20, his first day in office, Mr. Biden scrapped several of Donald Trump's contentious immigration policies, including halting new construction of a border wall and proposing legislation to create a citizenship pathway for the nearly 11 million people living illegally in the U.S. Republican critics say Mr. Biden’s policies caused a sharp increase in migrants seeking to cross into the U.S. illegally.

The President spoke a day after top Republican congressman Kevin McCarthy visited the border in Texas with fellow Republican lawmakers and accused Mr. Biden of creating a “crisis”.

Mr. Biden’s chief of homeland security Alejandro Mayorkas on Tuesday also defended the administration's immigration policies.

Mr. Mayorkas acknowledged the United States was "on pace" to encounter more migrants at the border than at any time in two decades, but said such spikes were "not new," having also occurred in 2019, 2014 and earlier.

US HOUSE PASSES DOMESTIC VIOLENCE BILL, PUSHES ISSUE TO SENATE

With a nod to Women's History Month, the Democratic-led House passed two measures Wednesday, one designed to protect women from domestic violence, the other to remove the deadline for states to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment.

The reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act passed 244-172 with 29 Republicans joining Democrats in supporting the legislation.

The resolution to repeal the ERA's ratification deadline passed 222-204. Both measures face a more difficult path in an evenly divided Senate.

The White House announced its support earlier Wednesday for reauthorizing VAWA, which aims to reduce domestic and sexual violence and improve the response to it through a variety of grant programs. Many of the Democratic congresswomen wore all-white outfits to commemorate the day, a nod to the women's suffrage movement when marchers would wear white dresses to symbolized the femininity and purity of their cause.

GEORGIA SHOOTINGS LEAVE 8 DEAD, SUSPECT ARRESTED

A series of shootings over nearly an hour at three Atlanta area massage parlours left eight persons dead and raised fears that the attack was yet another hate crime against the people of Asian descent.

The police arrested a 21-year-old Georgia man, saying the motive wasn't immediately known, though many victims were women of Asian descent.

The attacks began on Tuesday evening, when five persons were shot at Youngs Asian Massage Parlour in Acworth, about 30 miles (50 km) north of Atlanta, Cherokee County Sheriff's office spokesman Capt Jay Baker said. Two persons died at the scene and three were taken to a hospital, where two died.

About an hour later, the police responding to a call about a robbery found three women dead from apparent gunshot wounds at Gold Spa in Atlanta's Buckhead neighbourhood, which is home to many tattoo parlours and strip clubs. While there, the officers learned of a call reporting shots fired at another spa across the street, Aromatherapy Spa, and found a woman who appeared to have been shot dead. “It appears that they may be Asian,” Atlanta Police Chief Rodney Bryant said.

PAKISTAN GOVT MULLS CONTEMPT CASE AGAINST POLL BODY

Imran Khan-led government has opened a new battlefront by taking on the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), warning to initiate contempt proceedings against the chairman and members of the electoral body if they did not resign from their offices, reports Omer Farooq Khan.

The government’s warning came hours after the ECP issued notices to Khan’s PTI on Tuesday to appear before it on March 22 to explain its position over keeping secret the documents related to a foreign funding case against the party.

While Khan and his cohorts accuse the ECP of foul play in the recent Senate polls, political pundits and opposition leaders believe PTI’s demand for the resignation of ECP members is due to the imminent decision in the foreign funding case against Khan and his party.

LEBANON PRESIDENT TO PM-DESIGNATE: FORM CABINET NOW OR QUIT

Lebanon’s President called on the Prime Minister-designate to form a government immediately or step aside as the country plunges deeper into economic crisis.

In turn, Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri swiftly challenged President Michel Aoun to step down — a sign of a prolonged political crisis.

The intractable political battle comes against the backdrop of an economic crash that is proving to be the most serious challenge to the small country’s stability since its 15-year civil war ended in 1990.

In a televised statement on March 17, Mr. Aoun said that Cabinet lists proposed by Mr. Hariri, who was named to the post of Premier last October, did not meet the minimum requirements needed to preserve national accord.

Mr. Aoun urged Mr. Hariri to meet him at the presidential palace and work together on forming a government or step aside if they cannot agree. The call seems an attempt to deflect blame for months-long political battle in which both sides have traded accusations of obstruction.

In response, Mr. Hariri tweeted that he was surprised by the President’s televised invitation and instead urged Mr. Aoun to approve Mr. Hariri’s last list, which he described as consisting of experts and not political nominees.

Mr. Hariri also called on Mr. Aoun to spare the Lebanese more suffering by allowing early presidential elections, and challenging him to spell out why he has so far declined all Cabinets proposed by the Premier-designate.

COVID-19 DISRUPTIONS KILLED 228,000 CHILDREN IN SOUTH ASIA, SAYS UN REPORT

The disruption in healthcare services caused by Covid-19 may have led to an estimated 239,000 maternal and child deaths in South Asia, according to a new UN report.

It's focused on Afghanistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, home to some 1.8 billion people.

The report found that women, children and adolescents were the worst-hit.

South Asia has reported nearly 13 million Covid cases and more than 186,000 deaths so far.

Many countries, including those in South Asia, responded to the pandemic with stringent lockdowns. While hospitals, pharmacies and grocers remained open, almost everything else shut down.

The report - Direct and Indirect Effects of Covid-19 Pandemic and Response in South Asia - examines the effect of these government strategies on healthcare, social services, including schools, and the economy.

It estimates that there have been 228,000 additional deaths of children under five in these six countries due to crucial services, ranging from nutrition benefits to immunisation, being halted.

Experts in India already fear that malnutrition rates will be significantly worse across the country when the data pours in over the next few months.

SRI LANKA TO CONTINUE WITH OXFORD ASTRAZENECA VACCINE: GOVT SPOKESMAN

Sri Lanka will continue to use the Oxford AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccines despite its suspension in some countries over reports that the doses were causing blood clot-related complications, a government spokesman said on Wednesday.

Some nations, mostly European, suspended the use of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, which also has a tie-up with the Serum Institute of India, after some reports of blood clotting.

Ramesh Pathirana, the Cabinet co-spokesman, said that the vaccine halted in certain European countries was limited to one batch of the vaccine and Sri Lanka had not received doses from the same batch.

He said that the public should remain calm and not fear such reports.

His comments come in the wake of several European countries -- including Denmark, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Norway and Iceland -- pausing the administration of the Oxford-AstraZeneca jab. Some Asian and African countries have expressed concern. Congo and Thailand have stopped the doses.

However, the UK and EU regulators and the World Health Organisation (WHO) have backed the usage of the Oxford-AstraZeneca jabs.

India gifted 500,000 doses of Oxford AstraZeneca vaccines to Sri Lanka, which kicked off its vaccination programme in late January.